ABSTRACT
Even in these days of the out-of-town superstore, shopping is a quintessentially urban activity. London, by virtue of its size and wealth, contained the greatest number and the greatest concentration of shops in the kingdom, but there is sufficient evidence to show that the shopping activities which formed so large a part of life in the capital were replicated on a smaller scale in many other English towns. In the context of the art and architecture of medieval London the shop occupies a special position. Some shops, like the corner grocery store of modern times, provided for daily household needs. This chapter is based mainly on the results of a detailed reconstruction of the histories of all the houses and other properties in a group of parishes in the Cheapside area of London between the 12th and the 17th century.
